Army Recruiting and Human Resources Management - Example

Army Recruiting and Human Resources Management of the of the No. Table of Contents Introduction 3 Human Resource Management 3 Staffing 4 Recruitment 4 Compensation 5 Retention Strategies 5 Army Recruiting 6 Army Human Resource Management System 6 Army Recruiting in Production 7 Army Recruiting in Accomplishments 8 Army Recruiting in Marketing High Quality Acquisitions 9 Amy Career Path 10 Conclusion 10 References 12 Introduction An efficient team of working professionals cannot be maintained in an organization without the essence of good human resource management system (Howker & Malik, 2010). The human resource management team of a company helps in recruiting people, training employed workforce, provides performance appraisals, motivates the workers and ensures adequate amount of communication and safety at different workplaces. The level of corporate competition has significantly increased in the modern era. In order to successfully defeat the threats of external business rivalry, companies try to augment the level of their operational efficiency and corporate competency. However, such outcomes cannot be experienced by an organization without the essence of a productive human resource management team. Among all the factor services used by a company, human capital is the most important resource. Human capital of a company assists in effectively utilizing its land, capital and entrepreneurial resources (Howker & Malik, 2010). Unproductive workers misuse the scarce resources of a company and ultimately reduces its revenue as well as profitability. Thus, human resource officials of a company should ensure that its recruited workforce is adequately skilled and knowledgeable. Furthermore, training sessions conducted by the human resource management system of a company helps to upgrade the quality of its existing workforce. The performance evaluation structure of each worker is conducted by this section of organizational management (Howker & Malik, 2010). Matters relating to public relations, internal organizational disputes and workplace culture are also tacked by the human resource management system of a company. This research paper will empirically analyse the human resource management system of the army. The context of the paper will empirically analyze the recruitment nature of army in areas of production, marketing and accomplishments. Human Resource Management Human Resource Management (HRM) is a new approach which is used to manage human capital of an organization. The key resource of any HRM system of a company is its workers. It is also known as the people’s dimension of organizational management. An organization is formed of a group of specifically skilled workforce (Oesch, 2010). All such functions fall under the domain of an organizational HRM. According to the views of some researchers, HRM is a special branch of management that is responsible for managing the employees of an organization (Spector, 1985). Good human relations can be experienced by a company with the essence of a productive HRM system. It indirectly helps to attain the long run integrated organizational goals. It is an extension of general management that helps to train the workers in ways through which they are able to provide the best work outcomes to their organizations. The HRM system of a company possesses certain specialized features (Timothy & Ronald, 2004). The HRM system of a company possesses certain specific functions of its own. It assists in proper utilization of the human resources and ensures that the existing workforce of a company is productively utilizing all its scarce resources (Timothy & Ronald, 2004). The HRM also provides additional professional growth opportunities to companies. Such prospects are provided to workers through sufficient skill development sessions. Staffing The term staffing is strongly associated with the concept of recruitment. However, the concept is applied in different aspects of working environment (Shao, Feng & Liu, 2012). It is the process of acquiring, retaining and deploying workforce in an organization. Successful staffing helps to create positive impacts on the operational effectiveness of a company. The staff acquisition model includes the recruitment procedure in an organization. It leads to the employment of workforce in a concern. According to this approach, the job requirements of a company are first estimated and then suitable service providers are selected for each work designation (Shao, Feng & Liu, 2012). On the other hand, the deployment perception of staffing relates to the process through which specific tasks are allotted to each individual according to the business demands. Matters relating to internal recruitment and promotion are also determined and resolved through this procedure of staffing. Finally, staffing also includes the concept of retention, through which the management authorities of an organization undertake the decisions regarding staff outflow related affairs (Pitts, 2009). The voluntary and involuntary activities of workforce management are tackled through the detention related activities of staffing. Staffing of an organization is effective when the overriding objectives of a company are satisfied (Shao, Feng & Liu, 2012). Such goals help to minimize the loss of an organization and lower the cost of employee recruitment. Employee schedule management functions are also types of staffing activities of a company. The existing workforce of a company is internally managed through the process of staffing. Recruitment Recruitment is the process of selecting, attracting and appointing suitable individuals for jobs within an organization. Such jobs can be either temporary or permanent in nature (Podsakoff, Todor & Skov, 2000). Through the process of recruitment, human resource officials of a company recruit some non paid workers for certain training programmes and voluntary professional tasks. Such functions are generally practiced by the in-house managers, recruitment specialists and human resource experts of a company (Podsakoff, Todor & Skov, 2000). However, the public-sector employment agencies, consultancies and industrial recruitment concerns also recruit prospective workers on behalf of some companies. In the modern era, recruitment activities of companies are accomplished with the help of computer technologies and internet based services (Podsakoff, Todor & Skov, 2000). Job analysis, sourcing, selection, screening and lateral hiring are types of recruitment functions of a company. Selection Recruiters select their prospective workforce through different approaches of employee selection. The most common method is performance based selection process, in which each worker is selected on the basis of their knowledge and skill set (Podsakoff, Todor & Skov, 2000). During the selecting process, the recruiters evaluate the soft skills of the workers. Such attributes includes interpersonal leadership quality, professionalism and work attitude of the employees. The employers always ensure that the workforce selection process in their company provides equal opportunity to all the candidates and strictly follows all the ethical standards of work. Job stability and money are the two factors influencing selection of productive workforce in a company (Porac, Ferris & Fedor, 2010). A company aims to grow and resolve all its prospective business goals with the help of increased productive workforce. The selection process of a company depends of some specific factors such as nature of job requirements and size of labour market (Richmond and McCroskey, 2000). Indentifying the appropriate candidates, assessing the profiles of the applicants and listing the most prospective candidates are the basic selection related functions of any recruitment process (Porac, Ferris & Fedor, 2010). The selection procedure of a company becomes effective, if it can recruit highly productive human capital at minimal possible cost. Compensation Compensation is the aggregate amount of non monetary and monetary pay provided to an employee by an organizational employer. The financial and non financial compensations are provided in return of the performed task of an employee (Richmond and McCroskey, 2000). The value of compensation provided by the human resource officials of a company depends on certain specific factors. It is influenced by the worth and offers provided for similar jobs in the market. The amount of compensatory return also depends on the accomplishments and contributions of the employees. Research reports claim that the net worth of compensation offered by an organization is inversely proportional to the availability of skilled workforce in the market (Richmond and McCroskey, 2000). The employers often use compensations as strategic tools to attract prospective workforce from the market. In general, financial stable organizations provide large amount of compensations to its workforce. Thus, compensation is used as an employee motivational tool in the contemporary era. This tool helps to bridge the gap between the workers’ ability and willingness to work. Retention Strategies Employee retention evaluates the ability of a company to retain its existing workforce. It can be measured with the help of a simplistic statistic. For instance, if the workforce retention rate of a company is 80%, then it indicates that the organization possesses the capability to retain 80% of its existing employees (Yukl & Van Fleet, 2002). For such reasons, retention becomes a strategy instead of an outcome in an organization. The human resource officials of an organization try to retain its most productive, valuable and contributing employees. Retention strategies often help to resolve the employee turnover issues of a company (Yukl & Van Fleet, 2002). Other workforce management problems such as low employee morale, poor manager-employee relationships and lack of clear career path of the workers are also resolved through employee retention strategies (Hussain Haider & Riaz, 2010). A high employee retention rate enhances the brand value of an organization in the market. Career development programs, motivational initiatives and women opportunity occasions, introduced by companies are types of employee retention strategies (Tannenbaum, Weschler & Massarik, 2013). Army Recruiting Individuals are appointed at military positions through the process of army recruitment. Military recruitment can be voluntary or involuntary in nature. The process of forceful military recruitment is known as conscription. The voluntary style of army recruitment is known as a military science (Alexandrou, Bartle & Holmes, 2001). A large amount of forces are employed through this, for the purpose of defensive service provision. Factors such as war, education, family, economic motivation, friends, politics and psychology generates appeals for army recruitment (Alexandrou, Bartle & Holmes, 2001). Army Human Resource Management System Recruitment process can be conducted through face to face interviews, emailing campaigns or telephonic mediums. Research reports have shown that army recruiters maintain specialized booths at sports stadiums, amusement parks and other public attractions. Social media is also used as a special means of army recruitment in the contemporary era. Over time, the internet penetration rate has significantly increased in most countries around the world (Alexandrou, Bartle & Holmes, 2001). Social media helps the recruiters communicate with a larger strength of population cost effectively. Army Recruitment in United Kingdom Military service was obligatory for a certain section of British population, during and after the First and Second World War (Civil Service Branch, 1995). Apart from compulsory recruitment, the British Army has utilized other means of recruitment procedures, such as face-to-face interviews, telephonic consultations and social media interrogations (Heyman, 2011). The minimal age constraint, for British Army recruitment has always been 16 years since long. However, this age limit is increased to 18 years in relation to contest operations (Civil Service Branch, 1995). Many young British individuals desire to join the British Army at present. These people consider such participation to be an adventurous career option (Civil Service Branch, 1995). The British Army is a branch of British Armed Forces that helps to ensure land welfare in the country. The force was established in 1660 and currently experiences a size of 125430 Army and Regular workforce reserve (Civil Service Branch, 1995). It is not a profit maximizing concern but resembles the social security of the U. K. The professional soldiers recruited in the army are well trained individuals. After theoretically evaluating the different aspects of human resource management, the context of the research paper will realistically estimate the human resource structure and functions of the British Army. It is rational to evaluate the workforce management system of an Army because it involves administration of a wide strength of human capital. Furthermore, regiments of British army are known to be well trained and productive at their social welfare maximizing activities. Human Resource Management (HRM) is an important aspect of the British Armed Forces and the U.K. Ministry of Defence (Alexandrou, Bartle & Holmes, 2001). The implications introduced by the Macpherson Report have also helped to increase the efficiency of British Army’s HRM system. Research reports shows that the British Armed Forces is facing severe HRM related issues. Similar to the HRM systems of other Armed Forces, the British HRM structure has experienced rationalization and organizational restructuring on a massive scale, since 1990 (Alexandrou, Bartle & Holmes, 2001). The HRM system of British Army has significantly changed after the ending of Cold War. This is because; the defence priorities of the country have transformed after the war. The existing HRM management division of British Army tries to retain and recruit best available talents from the market. The human resource officials of British Army train its recruited workforce for improving their effectiveness, efficiency and flexibility (Alexandrou, Bartle & Holmes, 2001). Figure 1: Strength of British Army (Source: Alexandrou, Bartle & Holmes, 2001) The above graph shows that historically, from 1990 to 1999, the aggregate strength of British Army has significantly declined (Alexandrou, Bartle & Holmes, 2001). However, declining strength of armed forces indicates increased efficiency of the existing forces and portrays the diminishing cost experienced by the British Army’s HRM system. Army Recruitment in United States Human resource management system of American army had existed since the colonial era in 1700s (U.S. Army, 2014). At present, there are more than thousand army recruitment stations at different places of United States. The American military forces are appointed in navy, coast guard, national guard, marine defence and aviation related services. The U.S. recruitment officials generally prefer face-to-face approach of selection (Heyman, 2011). Final candidates are selected after sufficient background checks and enlistment oath processes. Since 2001, the major military operations of United States have experienced drastic changes in its structure and functions (U.S. Army, 2014). The mobilization scale of its reservists has increased and has participated in several battle casualties. Over time, the number of participants in the U.S. forces has significantly increased due to the rise of civilian unemployment rate of the country. Army Recruiting in Production The department of army in each country acquires products such as ammunitions and weapons from third party suppliers in the market. For instance, United States Army Ordinance Corps supplies different types of war weapons and ammunitions to the U.S. Army. The organization is a sustainment branch of the official U.S. Army. These suppliers provide different types of ammunitions to the army and also ensure fulfilment of maintenance and procurement related activities of such products. Thus, the production related activities of an Army are performed by separate sustainment branches (Heyman, 2011). These branches are subset of military logistics and attend to the factors directly influencing the operations of an army. The development, acquisition, production and sustainment related activities of weapon systems, ammunitions, electronics, missiles and ground mobility materials are all provided by the sustainment logistics branches of army (America’s Army, 2014). The production related actions of an army are conducted by the ordnance officials. Such professionals are recruited for ensuring that vehicles, weapon arrangements and equipments used by the army are always available and well maintained. Thus, these recruited individuals manage the munitions used by an army. These officials control and command operations during any land combat. The ordnance soldiers are recruited at all levels of command. During the recruitment process, such soldier’s needs to qualify in all the tests held under the name of Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (U.S. Army, 2014). The human resource officials evaluate the personal skills of each soldier from the results of these tests. At the final stage, each soldier is bestowed with a particular job responsibility on the basis of their intrinsic skills and aptitude. During the training sessions, these soldiers need to complete Ordnance Officer Basic Course (U.S. Army, 2014). The recruited soldiers are taught efficient leadership skills and operational tactics during such sessions. The trainings are taken in classrooms as well as in fields. Individuals possessing adequate amount of self discipline, physical fitness and accurate decision making ability in crisis situations are preferably recruited in the production or ordnance department of an army (Heyman, 2011). Such recruited professionals are provided medical, housing, special pay and leave related facilities (Wooldridge, 2012). The interested soldiers are also provided merit-based scholarship facilities for higher education. In future, the officials do not get direct jobs in the civilian market but they can acquire the same with their specialized skills and knowledge. However, under the PaYS program, these individuals can get special job offers from corporate companies such as AT&T, Time Customer Service, Inc. and Hewlett-Packard Company (U.S. Army, 2014). Army Recruiting in Accomplishments The accomplishments provided by the army helps to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the soldiers. The medical action plans introduced by the army helps to improve the quality of medical care for all the wounded warriors. Specialized welfare maximizing services are provided to the family members of the solders and such compensations enhance the quality of their living. For instance, the Soldier Family Assistance Centres of the U.S. army provides specialized healthcare and other welfare facilities to the wounded soldiers and their families (America’s Army, 2014). Such accomplishment programs of the human resource officials of an army helps ensures good health and motivation of all the soldiers. Good health status of the soldiers comprises both intrinsic and extrinsic benefits. Intrinsically, healthy soldiers are more productive in nature and extrinsically, an army with good health signifies strength of a country’s defence. On the other hand, the specialized financial and non financial incentives augment the motivational levels of the soldiers. Motivation bridges the gap between ability and willingness to serve (Heyman, 2011). The soldiers become more dedicated towards their duty, when they are provided with adequate amount of additional incentives. The human resource officials of an army also present prestigious awards to the hard working soldiers (America’s Army, 2014). For instance, through the accomplishment, innovation and stewardship activities, the U.S. army claims to efficiently utilize the resources provided to them by the Congress government. The accomplishments help to improve the quality of the army’s human resources, with the help of financial resources. The accomplishment related functions of an army are conducted by teams of national guard soldiers, fielded human terrain teams and army evaluation task force teams. The human resource officials of an army recruit skilled officials within the accomplishment service providing department. The recruiters ensure that these individuals are culturally fit for their respective job roles (America’s Army, 2014). These officials are recruited through innovative recruitment plans and are considered to be the skilled workforce of the army. The accomplish service providers in an army are types of human resource officials. They are all graduates and possess at least 2 years of experience in their respective work profiles. During the training sessions, these professionals gain idea about the laws and regulations of Office of Federal Contract Compliance Program (FCCP) and the Equal Employment opportunity (EEO) (U.S. Army, 2014). These individuals possess adequate expertise to use basic equipments such as mobile phones, computers and other information devices. They own proficient verbal and non verbal communication skills. Through the accomplishments, these professionals help to improve the efficiency of the soldiers in an army. The professionals are highly skilled and are given adequate amount of compensations (Heyman, 2011). Army Recruiting in Marketing High Quality Acquisitions In the modern era, army recruiters are adopting innovative means of recruitment for attracting most proficient talents from the market. Talent acquisition is an important function for all the human resource officials of an army. Apart from recruitment style, the workforce management department of an army is adopting efficient means of training and knowledge enhancement sessions for the recruited individuals (Ayer & Runey, 2014). Such innovative acquisition approaches are marketed as recapitalization of human talent across the nation. Army recruiters are now utilizing unity of effort style of enrolment, for acquiring appropriate talents from the market. Under this regime, recruitment process are combine handled by the human resource officials and other organizations such as the Army fiscal and information support and some market research studies (Ayer & Runey, 2014). The training and knowledge enhancement sessions of a modern army are conducted through decentralized semi-independent training process. For instance, some training activities of the U.S. Army are conducted by its own recruitment university. The modern soldiers are trained in ways through which they become smart, trainable, teachable, adaptable, resilient and team oriented in future (America’s Army, 2014). Many of these professionals give special exams such as Tailored Adaptive Personality Assessment System and Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery during their service period (Ayer & Runey, 2014). Thus, high quality talent is acquired and trained in the modern army recruitment system. Amy Career Path The structure of army of any modern country is wide and offers more than 150 different types of career opportunities to the individuals. An individual can join in the art, intelligence, combat, aviation, engineering, law, science or any other department of an army. The human resource officials of an army claim that there’s no limit to the career achievements of a soldiers or other army professionals. For joining a particular army, an individual must be the citizen of that specific nation. The age limit of such a professional must be between 17 to 35 years (U.S. Army, 2014). Furthermore, an individual must be physically fit to join in any particular department of an army and should possess a clean legal record. Joining army at the initial stage of career is highly recognisable and a prestigious initiative. After completing duties in any department of army, most individuals get popular jobs in the civilian market (America’s Army, 2014). An army officer or soldier receives different types of awards and training during the service period. Such rewards and knowledge become priceless assets for the professional in future. An individual gains specialized leadership skills and work ethics while providing services in an army. The job role of a soldier or army officer is determined by the ASVAB score and other specific factors (U.S. Army, 2014). The soldiers are provided scopes higher education during their service tenure in the army. For instance, under the Army ROTC program, some soldiers are given three to two year scholarship offers for higher education. The army authority pays the educational and living expenses of such young student soldiers. (U.S. Army, 2014) Furthermore, other programs such as Green to Gold Active Duty Option program and nursing program are also established by the U.S. Army for improving the professional knowhow of the appointed soldiers. (U.S. Army, 2014). An individual can join in any four major departments of the U.S. Army. These departments are named as the Go Army, National Guard, Army Reserve and Civilian Army (U.S. Army, 2014). The Go Army soldiers provide land force services when required. Such professionals are true national defence service providers. The soldiers of the National Guard department are privileged group of warriors and they dedicate a portion of their life to serve the U.S. Army. The military forces under the Army Reserve department are highly skilled multi-component force of the U.S. Army (America’s Army, 2014). Finally, the professionals working in the civilian service department conduct all the administrative functions of the army. All the individuals working in the U.S. Army are provided adequate financial and non financial resources against their services (Heyman, 2011). Most of these individuals get good jobs in the civilian market in future. Conclusion The state of commercial and non commercial affairs has become highly complex in the contemporary economies. The external environment has become uncertain in the modern world and hence the profit as well as non profit making organizations implements adaptive means of operational processes (Brown & Gutterman, 2009). The context of the research paper shows that human resource management is an integral segment of organizational management in the modern world. The human resource officials manage the staffing, recruitment, selection and compensation related activities of human capital. The importance of this segment of management could be empirically evaluated by analyzing the recruitment related activities conducted by the army of a particular country (Brown & Gutterman, 2009). The defence department of each country such as the United States and United Kingdom generate job opportunities for millions of individuals (Heyman, 2011). Individuals are recruited in the production and accomplishment divisions of an army through various types of innovative recruitment approaches (Pitts, 2009). During the tenure of their service, these officials are provided with adequate knowledge enhancement sessions and are given appropriate amount of compensations through cash and non cash returns. The army recruitment authorities are now adopting modern means of talent acquisition to ensure greater strong defensive workforce in future (Pitts, 2009). The entire research work proves that operational efficiency can be achieved by an organization with the essence of an efficient human resource management system. References Alexandrou, A., Bartle, R. & Holmes, R. (2001). Human Resource Management in the British Armed Forces. London: Routledge. America’s Army. (2014). Stewardship, Innovation, and Accomplishments. Retrieved from http://www.army.mil/aps/08/accomplishments/accomplishments.html. Ayer, R. & Runey, M. (2014). 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